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Monday, June 12, 2006

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger ["Big Ben"] is in serious but stable condition and in surgery this afternoon following a serious head injury this morning after his motorcycle collided with a car on Second Avenue near the 10th Street Bridge, police said. Roethlisberger lost most of his teeth, fractured his left sinus cavity bone, suffered a nine-inch laceration to the back of his head and a broken jaw, and severely injured both of his knees when he hit the ground, police said. A plastic surgeon has been summoned.

"He is right now in the (operating room) undergoing some surgery from injuries he received in this accident today," said Dr. Larry Jones, chief of trauma and burns at Mercy Hospital, Uptown. ... He was talking to me before he left for the OR. He's coherent. He's making sense. He knows what happened. "

I am a native Pittsburgher and I'm working on moving back there soon, however, I am so glad I'm not there today. It's a city that is fanatical about its sports and its sports heroes-- I think it's a safe bet that much of the city is going to be brokenhearted by this evening.

The saddest part of all is how Big Ben openly and proudly talked about how much he liked to ride his motorcycle sans "brainbucket." In the wake of the Brown's Winslow's motorcycle accident even Terry Bradshaw had advised "Big Ben" to put off riding until after he retired.

In 2003 the legislature of Pennsylvania, for inexplicable reasons, repealed its mandatory helmet law. Perhaps now it will be reinstated, it might even be called "Ben's Law."